Newly re-elected Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is under intense pressure to take the oft-thankless job as chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee for the 2012 election cycle, party sources in both Washingtons said Friday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as the White House, are asking Murray for what would be a repeat performance. She chaired the DSCC in 2002, an election in which Democrats narrowly lost control of Congress’ upper chamber.

Murray has not made a decision. She is headed home from Washington, D.C., to spend Thanksgiving with her family.

The 2012 cycle is expected to be difficult for the Democrats, who hold a reduced 53-47 majority in Congress’ upper chamber.

They will be defending 23 Senate seats. Two independent senators – Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut — caucus with the Democrats, and must also face the voters. Only 11 Republican-held seats are up.

Two Democrats from “red” states, Sens. Jon Tester, D-Montana, and Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, already have announced and formidable opponents. Sen. Maria Cantwell is up for reelection in this state.

Tester was in Seattle earlier this month asking for support in holding the seat he won in 2006 by a margin of fewer than 5,000 votes.

As noted by her office on Friday, Murray has set out an ambitious national and home-
state agenda. She is arguing that Bush-era tax cuts should be extended for the middle class, but not the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers.

The job of raising money is itself taxing.

Murray spent part of Congress’ 2002 Fourth of July recess on Whidbey Island with her family, but had to fly to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts to entertain prominent Democratic donors.